VIJAYAWADA: Agriculture minister Kakani Govardhan has reiterated the state government’s claim that AP recorded a gross state domestic product (GSDP) growth rate of 16.22 per cent in 2022-23.
This was as per advance estimates, when compared with the previous year’s GSDP, he said on Friday, in a strong retort to the Opposition Telugu Desam members’ submission that no growth was evident in the state in the past four years of the YSRC rule. “The state government was unable to pay wages to its employees on the first day of every month,” the TD members had said to stress their point.
Taking part in the discussions on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address of the legislature, the minister said in the legislative council that the YSRC government was according to top priority to education, health and agriculture.
Referring to the implementation of the Amma Vodi scheme, wherein ₹15,000 was being deposited in the bank accounts of mothers who send their children to school, and not to fields to do labour, he asked the TD members why their leader Chandrababu Naidu did not implement such schemes during his term as CM.
He slammed the TD for imposing a ceiling of ₹ 35,000 in the fee reimbursement scheme during Naidu’s rule.
Legislator DMV Prasad who moved the motion of thanks to the Governor, lauded the CM for introducing the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for welfare funds disbursals, avoiding the role of intermediaries, so as to help the beneficiaries get the money directly into their bank accounts.
He said CM Jagan mentioned a class war was about the fight between the rich and the poor and underlined the need to eradicate the caste system.
YSRC MLC Varudu Kalyani lauded Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy for fulfilling 98.5 per cent of his poll promises and wished that he should become the permanent CM for Andhra Pradesh.
TD MLC K.E. Prabhakar said the Governor’s address missed certain key facts about the state. The legislator disagreed with the state’s claim of a GSDP growth of 16.22 per cent, by saying that, if so, it should be reflected in a rise in revenue, which did not happen anyway.
“There was no economic growth in AP, no growth in infrastructure and no new road has been laid.
As for education, Class X pass percentage recorded at 93.63 per cent during the TD term was way above the 64 per cent in 2021-22 under the YSR Congress term. Nearly 2.31 lakh inter-students failed in 2022-23, a sad commentary on the quality of higher education being provided in the state now. The governor was misled by the state government in several respects and it made him read out a statement that hid several facts about AP,” he said
MLC Lakshmana Rao said that there was less development in major sectors. Tenant farmers were being subjected to a lot of injustice as they were not getting any support from the state government due to certain faulty norms. The quality of school bags and shoes given to the students was not good. The government must release salaries to government employees on the first of every month, he said, and wondered as to why the 12th PRC was not mentioned in the budget.
TD MLC Ashok Babu said Dr BR Ambedkar should have specified certain additional norms for preparing the budget so as to avoid controversy and confusion as in the case of the GSDP growth rate.
Referring to the annual Status of Education Report 2022, he said the quality of education for classes V and VIII was falling as there was a shortage of teachers.
He asked the government to notify the District Selection Committee and take up recruitment of teachers to fill up the vacancies in government schools.
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